Thermovape Cera

Thermo-Essence Technology is a Harm Reduction Company. Our goal is to develop innovative solutions to help people find effective and healthier alternatives to smoking. We are a small American company that uses the latest scientific research and medical literature to develop, patent, and build innovative portable vaporizers.

We would like to thank everyone who took part of the pre-sale and have supported us. Every product we build is held to a rigorous standard. We never compromise on materials, safety, or quality. The decision to build devices of such high quality an unrelenting standard is evident the first time you hold one of our vaporizers. Every Cera is designed, manufactured, and hand assembled here in the USA, Backed by a lifetime limited warranty.

In addition to providing people with outstanding vaporizers we are also committed to creating American jobs, and supporting over 50 other American businesses. Every vaporizer we build keeps Americans working manufacturing industry leading technology.

Here it is everyone, start checking your mailboxes because we are shipping Cera's!
We are Packing and shipping the first group, the rest to follow.

This Cera right here is actually the very first production model!
Make sure to take a look at our first pre-sale thread if you have questions, we have answered many of them already and we want to keep this thread fairly clutter free.

Fantastic news, well done "Team Thermovape"! It's been a tough haul getting here, as we both know, but the road of 'no compromises' is often impassable and finding the best alternative daunting.

I have very high confidence that once folks get these rascals in hand they'll fully appreciate the efforts in their behalf. The 'Free Market' has just presented another excellent and useful option to the customers. IMO a 'best pick' for many.

To the 'Cera Faithful' best wishes in quickly working your way to the top of the ship list. The waiting, hard as it is, is nearly over.

As Gypsy Rose Lee was fond of saying, "Gentlemen, the end is in sight".

What is the final verdict on the Loose Leaf? Does the production model come with the original beta core, or the "hotter" one that OF has been testing?

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As of yesterday the decision was to go with the hottest possible one, the one I've been testing.

Unfortunately, I cannot recommend it for general use. My opinion is the improvement in start up times is offset by shorter sessions being forced on the user by more rapid heating of the body and shorter total run time (both to be expected, IMO). I was unable to produce 'bigger clouds' with it, despite considerable efforts. The lower powered cores produce more heat that I can use as it is, they do not limit the the size of clouds in my testing.

Consider roasting marshmallows over the camp fire. We're roasting herb here, I think the model holds. Past a certain point a bigger fire doesn't roast the marshmallows any faster (or better), it just forces the campers further away from the bigger fire and burns up the firewood faster.

If you want bigger clouds, load more. Grind finer, dry it out, pack it in, draw slow. That changes the equation. Hotter fire doesn't. Another technique worth considering for those who want 'maximum clouds, fast' is to load the bowl, fire it up and dig in. As soon as you dry the load out well, get mostly through the 'taste phase' and to the start of real vapor production, stop Shut down and cool it off. Then put the safety pin in (if you're so inclined) and stash it away for instant use. This removes more time from the 'time to first good hit' than higher power in the heater does.

I was interested in seeing the safety pin and the momentary switch if possible.

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If you look carefully at Tim's last photo, you can see the loop end of the pin there. The other end looks exactly like it always did (same shaft with the same screw on the end). The switch is pretty similar, it's just rounded a bit and sticks out slightly to make pushing it easier without looking.

Just curious on your thoughts on this one OF ... is there going to be any way to rig up a "hold down" for the momentary switch until the latching ones come in? (elastic bands ... rubber caps ... custom built cap of some sort ...) It would be nice to rig up a temporary solution for us LL guys while waiting for the latching switch to be ready .... just some thoughts.

(and it gave me an excuse to post in the REAL TV thread to say that I'm so excited!!!! and congrats TET!!! I know getting a product out the door can be an ordeal to say the least)

Just curious on your thoughts on this one OF ... is there going to be any way to rig up a "hold down" for the momentary switch until the latching ones come in? (elastic bands ... rubber caps ... custom built cap of some sort ...) It would be nice to rig up a temporary solution for us LL guys while waiting for the latching switch to be ready .... just some thoughts.

(and it gave me an excuse to post in the REAL TV thread to say that I'm so excited!!!! and congrats TET!!! I know getting a product out the door can be an ordeal to say the least)

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Good question. It's an anti tamper switch by design, so lots of the normal stuff (wedges, etc) are out. It's smooth, noting to tie into. You could invent something (I was thinking of a metal band with a hole in it for the threaded part of the cap to fit through perhaps?) or go ghetto and use a marble or similar and some duct tape I guess? Some might even just pack a little aluminum foil in with the spring perhaps, shorting the spring to the cap body. Noting to be proud of, but I tried it and it works. Hopefully in the near future that will become a moot point, either because the original switch can be had in reasonable numbers and in a useful time frame or a useful alternative. And I just got a couple of promising domestic made switches to fiddle around with as alternatives.....cap redesign would be needed most likely.

And Pipes hasn't even seen it yet, no telling what he's likely to come up with you know.

IMO you've got good reason to be excited. But noting compared to what you'll feel when you've got one in your hand, loaded up, battery charged.......

As of yesterday the decision was to go with the hottest possible (LL core), the one I've been testing.

Unfortunately, I cannot recommend it for general use. My opinion is the improvement in start up times is offset by shorter sessions being forced on the user by more rapid heating of the body and shorter total run time (both to be expected, IMO). I was unable to produce 'bigger clouds' with it, despite considerable efforts. The lower powered cores produce more heat that I can use as it is, they do not limit the the size of clouds in my testing.

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Thanks for the honesty, do you think they will have the medium core (or whichever your favorite was) available for substitution for orders later on?

Just curious on your thoughts on this one OF ... is there going to be any way to rig up a "hold down" for the momentary switch until the latching ones come in?

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All right, best to address this one straight out I guess. For sure very soon other guys are going to be poking around with the idea.....so with the understanding that experiments are going to happen I might as well save folks some time. As an indication of how important/useful I think this might be, I'm going to dip into my future photo posting quota and post a photo of the much troubling switch. Please bear in mind mine is a cosmetic reject, ignore the dings:

Whatever you do, boys and girls, do NOT bend any 1/8 brass rod you have lying around into the strange shape to the right of the switch. Should it accidentally get clipped on the Cera base it can hold the switch in the on position until removed as you can clearly see in the second photo:

We're all adults here (or so the Ground Rules say....), you've been warned.......

Thanks for the honesty, do you think they will have the medium core (or whichever your favorite was) available for substitution for orders later on?

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You're very welcome, 'call 'em like you see 'em' seems like a good policy to have. Easy to remember, too. That's important to me......

I absolutely think so. It is in their Business Model to support such stuff on a 'one off' basis even. Once the panic dies off a bit I expect a decision will be made on what the 'power saver' (or whatever you care to think of it as) version should be. I'm actually thinking it might want to be a little less than 14, the 12 I started with does a bang up job IMO. Maybe 13? Hopefully more testers can help TV make that decision.

For perspective, the oil cart is 14 as well IIRC, but the juice cart is 10 Watts since 'juice' vapes easier. Tim suggested changing my order (placed before Christmas, too.....) for a spare oil cart for dedicated PG use (love the stuff, if it's my only oil cart I'm finding an excuse to vape it up to put something else in....) to the 10 Watt juice version. Now that it seems the inventory control system is working, maybe they'll give me that cart next time I'm out?

As of yesterday the decision was to go with the hottest possible one, the one I've been testing.

Unfortunately, I cannot recommend it for general use. My opinion is the improvement in start up times is offset by shorter sessions being forced on the user by more rapid heating of the body and shorter total run time (both to be expected, IMO). I was unable to produce 'bigger clouds' with it, despite considerable efforts. The lower powered cores produce more heat that I can use as it is, they do not limit the the size of clouds in my testing.

Consider roasting marshmallows over the camp fire. We're roasting herb here, I think the model holds. Past a certain point a bigger fire doesn't roast the marshmallows any faster (or better), it just forces the campers further away from the bigger fire and burns up the firewood faster.

OF

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OF, I'm confused, Imagine that!
Could you please explain then why they are going with the "hotter one"?
Am I reading this right, you don't recommend it for "general use", what's general use?
So it's going to shorten the total run time, but only give a little faster warm up time, I sure hope it isn't turning into a glorified T1.
Any benefits I'm missing to why they are going with this hotter one?
Doesn't seem that there many pro's to it.

I guess with the new safetypin one could do as OF said and just (for instance) tape a marble to the back of the cera and use the safetypin to "toggle" it on and off? just untill we recieve the other switch. or am I completely wrong here?

I think the entire FC community and beyond would be ecstatic if you made a video of the finished cera!!

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Indeed. Personally i'd wish to see a destructive test with some solid short-circuit condition present across the battery terminals, to see what catastrophic failure modes to expect when reaching lifespan limit for example, etc... Can a defective battery turn ballistic or whatever and if so what direction would it take?...

Indeed. Personally i'd wish to see a destructive test with some solid short-circuit condition present across the battery terminals, to see what catastrophic failure modes to expect when reaching lifespan limit for example, etc... Can a defective battery turn ballistic or whatever and if so what direction would it take?...

OF, I'm confused, Imagine that!
Could you please explain then why they are going with the "hotter one"?
Am I reading this right, you don't recommend it for "general use", what's general use?
So it's going to shorten the total run time, but only give a little faster warm up time, I sure hope it isn't turning into a glorified T1.
Any benefits I'm missing to why they are going with this hotter one?
Doesn't seem that there many pro's to it.

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I'm glad you have no illusions about being the only one confused.....I wonder who might fully understand this all at this point in time myself..... Remembering I'm not TV, and only privy to some information, I can only guess as well. The decision was a 'front office' one, I think, and was made without my input (I told Tim what I'd seen so far yesterday morning after the answered my 'cool, what power did you decide to ship?' question.

Here's something else we know, they read and put great stock in these Forums. Look at what happened to the Cera thread when I mentioned I'd been given a different core to evaluate. 'That's for me' posts flooded the joint before any more was known. We demanded it, more or less, didn't we? Given the venom expressed elsewhere, had they gone with a milder core what do you think the chances of getting 'we were cheated', 'they deceived us into buying all the prototype junk at full price', 'that lame cart isn't enough for me' and so on posts would be? I'd estimate it at about 180%. I sure would not advise such an exposure. I wasn't asked, as I said, but my advice would be to ship the high power cart for that exact reason, despite what I see using them.

As to what I obviously expressed poorly, I think the average Joe (or Jane....) doesn't really have 'huge clouds' at the top of their list to the exclusion of all else. And in practical terms the production is impressive and IMO effective, it is only a tenth of a gram or so (what we asked for.....). You can only do so much with it. It is not, I think, limited by power available. We waste a lot of power with vapes like this as it is (making the body and world around it hot), putting more in and taking no more out only wastes more. And heats what's in your hand faster.

Nor do I think general owners will be in so much of a rush to get a hot hit or two and duck back under cover that they'll want to sacrifice more leisurely sessions and get less minutes per charge to gain 20 seconds or so on the 'flat out start up time'. A subjective judgement on my part, sure to differ with some, but you asked?

Yes, I think that change pushes it back toward the T1 design (30 Watts there), but not a lot. And it's easy to modify later. Either TV will introduce a lower power one as an option or we'll arrive at a rewind we think worth the $15 for a custom power.

I think the product is great now, and will get even better as time goes on. In the end, both low and high power will have their fans. Sadly, I don't think those looking for ever bigger clouds will find as much advantage as they hope for due to a misunderstanding in how this guy works. More power will boost the oil carts (being largely radiation and conduction), but the herb carts (being mostly convection) don't seem to benefit much directly to me.

I think the entire FC community and beyond would be ecstatic if you made a video of the finished cera!!

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Do you really think so? Did you miss the part in the jibberish thread where they were vilified for wasting time making all the videos and 'not doing your job and designing the product professionally'? Not really the sort of thing that encourages folks much in the long run. Small wonder makers don't generally last long on these Forums.

Yes, most would appreciate it, no doubt. But "the entire FC community" is guaranteed to not "be ecstatic". And at least some of those would most likely have no trouble being what I consider just a little bit rude about saying as much. Or maybe even more than a little bit?